The role of dissipation in time-dependent non-integrable focusing billiards

Tunable Fermi acceleration in a nondissipative driven magnetic billiard

We study the effect of a constant magnetic field on the dynamics of a system that may present Fermi acceleration (FA). The model in consideration is the nondissipative annular billiard with breathing boundaries. There is a field threshold, from which the mechanism of FA can be deactivated. The presence of the magnetic field curves the particle trajectories and for some combinations of the parameters FA is totally, and nontrivially, suppressed without considering any kind of dissipation.

Introduction to Focus Issue: statistical mechanics and billiard-type dynamical systems

Dynamical systems of the billiard type are of fundamental importance for the description of numerous phenomena observed in many different fields of research, including statistical mechanics, Hamiltonian dynamics, nonlinear physics, and many others. This Focus Issue presents the recent progress in this area with contributions from the mathematical as well as physical stand point.